manufactures with other European nations of greater power, organization and capitalized wealth. The following is an interview with a miller in Liege, reported by Consul Tanner: Has a wife and five children; earns $5.30 a week; two of his daughters earn a like sum; lives in a little cottage; can save no money; if he should get sick would go to the hospital; has a son who will also be a miller, as his fathers before him have all been; don't want to become rich, for if he were rich he would still labor; loves labor; never has any trouble save on holidays, when he is forced to be idle; all excesses committed by workingmen are committed on holidays; rich people seem unhappy; cares nothing for riches; cares for nothing but health and work, and work means health; idleness is the root of all evil; laughs daily at his master's son taking exercise in his gymnasium or running like a madman in his garden, seeking for that which the workingman finds in his work-health. Eats bread and butter in the morning, with coffee, before going to work; at noon goes home for dinner and has soup, with a little salad sometimes, and potatoes, and then supper; eats meat on family féte days only; the family cares very little for meat and does not feel being deprived thereof; all are content with their condition and do not bother themselves about any other. These general details concerning the labor conditions of Belgium have been here repeated, as both Consuls Wilson and Tanner seem to have been struck by the simplicity and content of the working classes. It may be said that the wages paid to Belgian labor are in general higher than the wages paid in any other country in Europe, outside of England, France and Denmark. Consul Tanner's report gives some graphic statistics on the important subject of female labor. Official figures showed that in 1880 the number of work-people in Belgium amounted to 2,520,000, of which 1,824,000 (65 per cent.) were females. Consul Tanner is in doubt as to whether agriculture was embraced in this computation. Out of a total employment of 23,569 persons in the mines in his consular district, 13,569 were women, girls and boys. This employment of women and young girls in the mines has an injurious effect on their physical and moral well-being. In the celebrated John Cockrell mines, near Liege, employing 11,000 persons, where men and women do the same kind of and as much work, the women receive on an average one franc per day less than the men. Consul Tanner gives the following as a fair average of the daily wages paid to female labor throughout Belgium: Coal, iron, and other mines, 35 to 65 cents; farm laborers, 20 to 40 cents; servants, 10 to 25 cents, and found; tailoresses, seamstresses, and milliners, 25 cents to $1; operatives in mills, factories, &c., 10 to 65 cents; street-sweepers, 10 to 45 cents; clerks, 10 to 65 cents; bonnes, 25 to 75 cents; washwomen, 25 to 35 cents; starchers and ironers, 25 to 35 cents; general laboring women, 35 to 65 cents. Shoptending is mostly in the hands of women in Belgium, retail trade being principally carried on by the female portion of the families. The consul at Antwerp reports that "it is extremely difficult to obtain much information in Antwerp upon this subject, as most employers guard their business very closely, and refuse to give any particulars regarding its details, especially for use in the United States." Consul Polachek, of Ghent, in his very valuable report, makes this acknowledgment: "I may be permitted to mention the numerous kindnesses received at the hands of the manufacturers and merchants of this district. Their generous aid has enabled me to prepare this report with such minute detail." The laborers of Ghent, according to the consul's report, work generally by the hour, the hours of labor being 12 in summer and 10 in winter, and the daily wages range all the way from 20 cents to $1.50. The average wages for skilled mechanics, as will be seen in the tables further on, may be reckoned at about $4 and laborers at $3 per week. The general rates of wages have increased 10 per cent. since 1878, but as the expenditure of the working-people has increased in like proportions, the savings are no more than formerly. The contentment and well-being of the workingmen of Ghent are fully illustrated by the fact that there is hardly any emigration from the district. The laboring classes, writes the consul, are fond of their homes; their treatment is kind and humane; they enjoy their recreations, and possess great love for their birthplace. The number and distribution of the female laborers of Ghent is given as follows: Manufacturing and mechanical, 4,675; commerce and transportation, 2,210; professional and personal, including government clerks, teachers, artists, laundresses, musicians, &c., 856; agricultural, 750; all other pursuits, 446; total, 8,937. The wages paid to female laborers average from 15 cents to 95 cents per day, the average wages in factories being 38 cents. The hours of labor in industrial and mechanical employment are from 11 to 13 per day; in all other employments 9 to 10. Men and women work on an equality in employments except as to wages, in which the usual disparity prevails. The following interview with a mechanic in a paper-mill in Ghent will serve to illustrate the manner in which such laborers live in that city: A paper-maker; forty-four years old, has a wife and five children, the oldest sixteen and the youngest six years; earns 77 cents per day, although the average earnings in the mill do not exceed 58 cents per day; hours of labor from 6 a. m. to 7 p. m., with two hours for eating; his wife works also, and two of his children earn something every week, without which he could not get along; his own earnings average $120 per year; his family expenses are $172.50 per year, viz, rent, $19.30; clothing, $28.95; food and fuel, $104.95; school tax and other incidentals, $19.30; thus leaving $52.50 to be paid for out of the earnings of his wife and children; with steady work and no sickness can save from $30 to $40 per year. The following general statements, compiled from the reports of the several consuls, will show the rates of wages paid in the general trades and industries in Belgium. II.-FACTORIES, MILLS, ETC. Wages paid per week of 72 hours in factories and mills in Verviers. Wages paid per week of 60 hours in factories or mills in Brussels, Belgium. Carpenters, machinists, locksmiths, firemen, &c., attached to mills and factories receive an average of $4.62 per week of 60 hours. III.-FOUNDRIES, MACHINE-SHOPS AND IRON-WORKS. Wages paid per week of 60 hours in foundries, machine-shops and iron-works in Brussels district. |